Famous Same Sex Penguin Couple Calls it Quits

Posted by Tiffany in Animal on July 11, 2009 at 10:34 pm


It seems like no long term relationship is safe these days. First it’s Jon and Kate and now sadly it’s Harry and Pepper.

Harry and Pepper are a pair of adorable male Magellan penguins at the San Francisco Zoo. They have been together for the last 6 years and even adopted an egg together in 2008. All was going well in their relationship until a newly widowed female penguin entered the picture and poor old Pepper was left out in the cold.

Last year, the pair was allowed to incubate and hatch an egg another penguin had laid. “Of all of the parents that year, they were the best,” Brown said. “They took very good care of their chick. He ended up being the largest chick on the island.” One could say that all seemed to be going swimmingly with Harry and Pepper.

Enter the recently widowed Linda, who has long had a reputation of sorts, according to Brown.

Several years ago, she left her longtime companion and moved in with much older Fig just hours after Fig’s partner passed away, Brown said. “That was the fastest we’d ever seen penguins move on,” he said. “To be completely anthropomorphizing, Linda seems conniving. She’s got her plan. I don’t think she was wanting to be a single girl for too long.”

This year, within weeks of Fig passing away in winter, Harry was seen in Fig’s old burrow spending time with Linda, Brown said. Then one day, Harry and Linda approached Pepper’s pen and confronted Pepper. Harry began attacking Pepper violently and the three ultimately had to be separated, Brown said.

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(Photo: Cindy Chew / The Examiner)


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18 comments to "Famous Same Sex Penguin Couple Calls it Quits"

  1. Johnny Cat
    July 11th, 2009 at 11:20 pm

    Well, well, what do we have here? The whole lipsick lesbian betrayal in reverse gender? Thaanks, Tiffany!

  2. Alex
    July 11th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

    The fact that this happened in San Francisco of all places really added extra oomph to the story :)

  3. The Manticore
    July 12th, 2009 at 2:02 am

    Poor Pepper. :(

  4. Mouserz
    July 12th, 2009 at 4:17 am

    Bisexual penguin pals.

  5. The Manticore
    July 12th, 2009 at 4:39 am

    you know, I really hope I don't see this as an argument that gays can 'get better'
    ¬.¬

  6. tt
    July 12th, 2009 at 5:43 am

    No, the fact that this is a penguin 'relationship' makes it really sad. Seriously, its like a soap opera, only with penguins! lol

  7. hooptycritter
    July 12th, 2009 at 7:21 am

    noooooooo!!!!

  8. Miss Cellania
    July 12th, 2009 at 7:25 am

    OK, just a wild guess: was this posted by Mrs. Neatorama?

  9. ted
    July 12th, 2009 at 7:27 am

    With the male penguins, it wasn't really a sexual relationship in the first place, was it? It's cute to anthropomorphize, but when it starts getting all soap opera-y, it gets silly.

  10. Grammar Nazi
    July 12th, 2009 at 8:05 am

    @ted

    waaaah

  11. tr
    July 12th, 2009 at 10:51 am

    Love is guaranteed heartbreak. Even for penguins.

  12. Babycakes
    July 12th, 2009 at 11:06 am

    Poor Pepper. I hope he gets some love.

  13. toomy
    July 12th, 2009 at 12:38 pm

    They split because the media made a spectacle of their relationship.

  14. ted
    July 12th, 2009 at 8:36 pm

    lol@toomy.

  15. Hannibal
    July 12th, 2009 at 10:13 pm

    Good grief. So much for another anecdotal case of homosexuality in the animal kingdom. It just ain't so.

  16. Debbie
    July 13th, 2009 at 1:02 am

    LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender)- CSL (Can't Stop Laughing)

  17. mor
    July 13th, 2009 at 10:30 am

    this is even better than Meercat Manor, lol

  18. HMS Nerd
    July 24th, 2009 at 3:56 pm

    The media is super excited to extrapolate from penguins to humans. http://www.newsy.com/videos/when_harry_met_linda_a_look_at_animal_sexu al_behavior


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